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The non-profits are a great place to call for access to various services, including credit, budget, debt, and general financial counseling. After applying, a certified, highly trained counselor will explore with you all of the options available that can help you get back on track with paying various bills you may be responsible for making. Assistance will be offered in various languages, including Spanish. They help with home loans, credit card, and medical debts among other needs. Also receive assistance in eliminating or consolidating payday loans.

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I doubt that would be the case. The main impact will be from closing those accounts. FICO doesn’t take into account that you are in credit counseling when calculating your credit score. In other words, you don’t get penalized specifically for credit counseling like you would for, say, a late payment or bankruptcy. Plus you’ll hopefully be learning how to live debt free so you don’t have to rely on credit cards again.

Of course, $800 a month in credit-card bills is a lot to handle, which is where debt management comes in. One of the companies I profile further down, InCharge, can help reduce interest rates by an average of 6% to 9%. Assuming the best scenario (a 9% interest rate drop) and a four-year plan, your monthly payment could shrink to $576 (this includes a monthly fee of $49, which could be lower or dropped completely, depending on your situation) and your total interest paid would shrink to $5,276.
Experian, one of the three major credit bureau companies in the U.S., said the impact on your score should be minimal if you and the agency making payments for you, are on-time every month. If lenders look at your full credit report while you are in a DMP, they will see that you are repaying the debt at a reduced rate and it may affect their final decision on whether to grant you a loan.